Potatoes when left alone can keep almost indefinitely, but if you want to be able to really store them for the long haul you’ll want to consider freezing them.
Prepped potatoes are especially important to freeze correctly. The last thing you want to do is end up with frozen potato ingredients that are most, flaky, and generally just sort of falling apart after they’ve spent some time in the freezer.
Not everyone wants to go through the hassle and headache of blanching potatoes ahead of time, though.
Some folks don’t like the way that blanching makes potatoes taste, even. Lots of folks don’t love the texture, especially if you want to use your frozen potatoes for things like French fries in the future.
We share with you below a couple of tips and techniques that will help you read your potatoes perfectly every time without having to go through the blanching process.
Try them out and see which ones work best for you!
How to Freeze Potatoes Without Blanching
Some folks are going to wonder if you even need to freeze your potatoes at all.
That’s not an unreasonable question, especially since most folks know that potatoes can be left pretty much untouched – all on their lonesome – in a dark place with plenty of air circulating and suffer no real ill effects for much longer than you might think.
Once you cut into a potato, though, all of those extra long storage properties go right out the window.
The skin on potatoes handles the heavy lifting for protecting them over the long haul. The second that gets pierced all bets are off.
So why cut potatoes in advance if you are going to have to freeze them to keep them fresh in the first place?
Well, lots of people like to have ready to go French fries on hand. They like to have scalloped potatoes ready to rock and roll. And they just like to have precut (and sometimes even premeasured) portions of cubed potatoes that can be added to dishes in a flash, too.
Few people want to go through the process of blanching potatoes prior to the deep-freeze, though.
We can help you avoid that.
Stuff Potatoes in the Freezer – Not the Fridge!
First things first, though, you need to make sure that your preprepared potatoes do not end up in the fridge.
A lot of folks are on the impression that the refrigerator is the “Holy Grail” for keeping food nice and fresh, the perfect solution for anything and everything they need to keep a little longer.
And while the refrigerator has totally changed the game when it comes to storage of food (especially medium-term storage), it’s not the best thing for your potatoes.
You see, the environment in a refrigerator – a cool but often humid environment – is going to do something to the sugars and enzymes in the potatoes themselves.
The end result is a chemical being released throughout the potatoes that starts to break down the texture, then change the taste, and then (inevitably) spoil the potato completely.
No, if you’re shooting for long-term storage of your preprepared potato ingredients you’re going to want to make sure that they find their way to the freezer.
Initial Preparation
The very first thing you’ll want to do before you stick any potatoes in the freezer, though, is really give them a good wash and a good scrub.
This is a huge piece of the puzzle. Trying to get frozen chunks of dirt and gunk off of your potatoes after they have been in the freezer for a while is next to impossible – even after they have been thought out.
Secondly, it’s a good idea to leave as much skin as possible on the potatoes when you slice them up or even when you shred them.
Remember, that skin does the bulk of the heavy lifting for keeping potatoes protected when they aren’t in the freezer. It does a pretty decent job at keeping part of the potato protected when they are in the freezer, too.
Dice and Cube
A great way to freeze your potatoes without having to blanch them is to dice and cube them up, generally into one inch chunks that you can then separated into individual serving sized bags for all the different dishes you’ll be using potatoes for in the future.
You want to start with raw (washed) potatoes that have not been blanched.
Cut the potato in half the long way, then cut it twice more lengthwise until you have three roughly even paces from each half.
All you have to do now is chop those potatoes into one inch chunks, place them on a nonstick tray (or some shoot a plate/tray with nonstick spray), and then stick them in the freezer without any of them touching each other.
After they have frozen solid you can separate them again into little individual baggies (freezer baggies), squeezing out as much air as possible, and then organizing them in your freezer.
Shred
Shredding potatoes can be another great way to freeze them without blanching. This is a perfect solution for folks that like to make a lot of hash or a lot of hash browns.
Shred your whole potatoes into cold water (ice cold water) until you have all of them done.
After that, strain the water out, spread the potatoes on a cookie sheet, and then place a fan near the potatoes to quickly dry them off.
Spray down another cookie sheet with nonstick spray, stick the potatoes on the sheet and place it in the freezer. Once they freeze solid, separate them into individual servings, plopped them into freezer bags, and you are rocking and rolling.
Closing Thoughts
There you have it – a couple of really easy to follow tips and tricks for freezing potatoes without having to do any blanching I had of time.
You’ll end up with potato ingredients that are ready to go almost right out of the freezer bag, with next to no thawing necessary.
You also won’t have to worry about a lot of changes to the taste or texture of your frozen potatoes, either.